Historical Efforts and Limitations Across Administrations: A Pattern of Hope Without Strategy

Bilingualism, Costa Rica, Education Policy, Language Teaching, MEP (Ministerio de Educación Pública), Political Discourse 0 comments

“Pura Paja” - A politician addressing the country

AI-generated picture by Prof. Jonathan Acuña Solano in August 2025

✍️ Introductory Note to the Reader

As someone who has carefully observed Costa Rica’s attempts to achieve bilingualism across different administrations, I cannot remain silent. From the very beginning, when President Figueres Olsen announced his ambitious bilingual dream, I knew we were headed nowhere. Why? Because the Ministry of Education immediately began recruiting people who had English proficiency but no background in pedagogy. That signaled the start of an ill-conceived project.

Later administrations, instead of correcting the course, fell into the same pattern of promises and slogans without strategy. Under President Alvarado’s government, the “Costa Rica Bilingüe 2040” plan was promoted, but as we say in Costa Rica, it was pura paja—an empty discourse without substance. Now, as President Rodrigo Chaves Robles’s administration approaches its end, hindsight shows us the bitter truth: Figueres Olsen’s dream of bilingualism was not only poorly designed but also politically unsupported. It was, in essence, another piece of pura paja from a politician who failed to make others embrace his idea.

Historical Efforts and Limitations Across Administrations: A Pattern of Hope Without Strategy

Abstract

This paper analyzes the historical trajectory of Costa Rica’s bilingualism policy, beginning with President Figueres Olsen’s early proposals and extending through subsequent administrations, including those of Pacheco, Rodríguez, Chinchilla, Solís, Alvarado, and Chaves Robles. Despite recurring political promises, the initiative has been consistently undermined by inadequate teacher recruitment, lack of pedagogical preparation, and absence of long-term vision. Using government reports and critical perspectives, including Diario Extra’s analysis (“Costa Rica Bilingüe 2040: un sueño que se desvanece”), the article demonstrates how the dream of a bilingual Costa Rica has repeatedly dissolved into rhetorical discourse rather than concrete educational reform. The study concludes that systemic negligence, rather than isolated failure, defines Costa Rica’s bilingualism policies.

Keywords: Costa Rica, bilingualism, education policy, political discourse, language teaching, MEP (Ministerio de Educación Pública)

Resumen

Este artículo examina la trayectoria histórica de la política de bilingüismo en Costa Rica, desde las propuestas iniciales del presidente Figueres Olsen hasta las administraciones de Pacheco, Rodríguez, Chinchilla, Solís, Alvarado y Chaves Robles. A pesar de las reiteradas promesas políticas, la iniciativa ha fracasado una y otra vez debido a la contratación de docentes sin formación pedagógica, la falta de visión a largo plazo y el predominio de discursos vacíos sobre estrategias reales. Tal como lo señala Diario Extra en “Costa Rica Bilingüe 2040: un sueño que se desvanece”, el proyecto nunca se materializó en acciones sólidas. En conclusión, más que un fracaso aislado, el caso evidencia una negligencia sistémica en la política educativa costarricense.

Resumo

Este artigo analisa a trajetória histórica da política de bilinguismo na Costa Rica, desde as propostas iniciais do presidente Figueres Olsen até os governos de Pacheco, Rodríguez, Chinchilla, Solís, Alvarado e Chaves Robles. Apesar das repetidas promessas políticas, a iniciativa fracassou continuamente por causa da contratação de professores sem preparação pedagógica, da falta de planejamento de longo prazo e do predomínio de discursos retóricos sobre estratégias concretas. Como destacou o Diario Extra em “Costa Rica Bilingüe 2040: un sueño que se desvanece”, o sonho nunca saiu do papel. Em síntese, não se trata de um erro isolado, mas de uma negligência sistêmica na política educacional costarriquenha.

To understand why Costa Rica will not become a truly bilingual nation by 2040, we Costa Ricans must look beyond the promises of any one administration. The seeds of this unfulfilled dream were planted decades ago, in moments filled with political optimism but lacking in long-term planning. Each administration from Figueres Olsen to Alvarado added its own layer to the narrative about bilingualism, but too often these were chapters of underfunded ambition and “hot air” rather than concrete, scalable action for the sake of Costa Rican education. As the newspaper Diario Extra recently put it, “The goal of turning us into a bilingual nation by 2040… reveals today as what many of us suspected from the beginning: an aspiration more ambitious than realistic, a victim of improvisation and the absence of a holistic vision that characterizes Costa Rican public management” (Diario Extra, 2025).

Figueres Olsen (1994–1998): The Pioneer of the Promise

It was José María Figueres Olsen who first captured the public imagination with the idea of a bilingual Costa Rica. Under his government, English was introduced “supposedly” more formally at earlier educational levels, and significant investments were made in technology for schools. The intention was clear: prepare Costa Rican youth for a globalized, tech-driven future, something we can see now in 2025. But good intentions met limited follow-through. Infrastructure was uneven across the country, teacher training programs were inconsistent and poorly designed, and the idea of bilingualism became more of a slogan than a structured policy; the dream was beginning to fade away. It was an important first step, but one that lacked the legs to carry the country forward.

Miguel Ángel Rodríguez (1998–2002): Global Vision, Local Gaps

President Rodríguez, whom got elected from a different political party from the one Figueres was part of, continued promoting Costa Rica as an outward-facing, business-friendly nation, but bilingualism as envisioned in 1994 was never a centerpiece of his agenda. The focus shifted toward economic liberalization, leaving education, particularly language education in Costa Rica, adrift. The absence of strong national policies during this time allowed disparities between public and private schools to widen more than what they used to be. English instruction continued, but mostly in name, not in substance. Four more years passed by and the dream was not effaced from the fragile Costa Ricans’ collective consciousness.

Abel Pacheco (2002–2006): A Pause in Progress

Pacheco’s administration faced mounting social pressures and growing fiscal constraints inherited from Rodríguez’s administration where social protests were all over the country due to neoliberalism political ideas and policies. Though education remained a national priority in speeches before getting elected, concrete action on language policy stalled. Teacher training programs were not expanded, and curriculum reforms did not prioritize English in any way. Students in rural or low-income schools continued receiving limited exposure to the target language, reinforcing a system in which bilingualism was a privilege, not a right. And at this very point in history the idea of a bilingual country ready for the challenges of a digitized and interconnected world through the Internet was a vague idea in the mind of a few people who really wished for a bilingual country.

Óscar Arias (2006–2010): Economic Growth, Educational Inertia

Returning to power, Arias Sánchez brought renewed energy to Costa Rica’s global positioning, but bilingualism remained an indirect and deprioritized concern. Economic growth and foreign investment were key themes of his term, yet they were not matched by a strong push to create a bilingual workforce through systemic educational change and who could fill in the positions multinational companies were opening in Costa Rica. Though private initiatives grew, and business-sector demand for English surged, the public education system remained under-resourced and structurally unprepared to provide the foreign companies with a bilingual labor force. At this point in history, it was not just that the unprivileged got none or minimal bilingual education but the ones who studied English in private schools or institutions were the ones who could apply for these positions.

Laura Chinchilla (2010–2014): Political Will Without Structural Reform

Chinchilla spoke of educational reform, and her term coincided with increased pressure to modernize the primary and secondary school curriculum. However, no major breakthroughs were achieved in bilingual policy during her administration. During her time, teacher strikes and public sector discontent overshadowed reform efforts, what Arias did not address simply “burst” into social vexation and displeasure. And while some pilot programs in bilingual education were introduced, they were isolated, poorly monitored, and unsustainable on a national scale. Their impact was not quantified, and these efforts were as futile as the ones previous administrations had. The opportunity to link economic development goals with meaningful language training was missed once again, and multinational corporations were waiting for a bilingual workforce that was never prepared in our high schools.

Luis Guillermo Solís (2014–2018): The Missed Moment

President Solís inherited an education system in urgent need of transformation from eight years of abandonment where the focus on other areas of social need but bilingual education. The disconnect between labor market needs and educational outcomes had become painfully obvious by this time when no qualified personnel could be recruited because bilingual labor force was already employed. However, Solís’s administration struggled to implement the sweeping changes required. Though language was acknowledged as a strategic skill, few structural changes were made to teacher training, school infrastructure, or curriculum alignment. Instead, English remained trapped in the same limited time slots in primary and high school with little to no pedagogical innovation, especially outside urban areas.

Carlos Alvarado (2018–2022): The Boldest Vision, the Most Fragile Execution

Carlos Alvarado dared to dream bigger. With the launch of Hacia la Costa Rica Bilingüe 2040 and the formation of the Alliance for Bilingualism (ABi), his administration set the most ambitious bilingualism target in national history, postponing Figueres Olsen’s statement about a bilingual Costa Rica by 2025. Alvarado’s administration’s plan involved certifying students, something the barely took place, training teachers, which was not evidently in class delivery, and aligning institutions across sectors where INA (Instituto Nacional de Aprendizaje) was meant to shine but didn’t. It was a turning point in rhetoric and aspiration, but that was it.

But ambition was not enough. As Diario Extra reported, “With only three to five hours of English per week in most public schools, while bilingual schools dedicate 14 hours, it is impossible to speak seriously of forming competent citizens in a second language” (Diario Extra, 2025). When the pandemic struck, it dismantled much of the fragile infrastructure, leaving the Ministry of Public Education unable to sustain the plan. What remained was a set of goals with no engine to reach them.

A Systemic Breakdown

Across all these administrations, the same obstacles resurfaced: underfunded ministries, poorly trained teachers, lack of infrastructure, and political discontinuity. Teacher education in particular remains precarious. As the editorial notes, “Between 75% and 80% of teachers come from private universities, many of which do not meet the standards necessary to train competent educators in foreign languages” (Diario Extra, 2025).

The result? Generations of students left behind. “In 2023, there was a 142% increase in adolescents aged 15 to 17 outside the educational system, while 22,000 students abandoned classrooms” (Diario Extra, 2025). These are not just numbers, but lost futures, young people locked out of the opportunities that bilingualism could have provided.

Conclusion: Hope Without Continuity

This journey through Costa Rica’s recent history reveals a recurring pattern: administrations announcing bold ideas with limited political continuity or institutional support. Teachers were often left out of the planning process. Universities operated independently of national language goals. And bilingualism, as a concept, became more of a campaign banner than a reality in classrooms.

As Diario Extra warns us, “The failure of the plan Hacia la Costa Rica Bilingüe should not be a footnote in the history of our national frustrations. It should be a wake-up call… Our young people deserve an education system that prepares them to compete globally, not one that condemns them to underdevelopment” (Diario Extra, 2025).

📚 References

Diario Extra. (2025, August 6). Costa Rica Bilingüe 2040: Un sueño que se desvanece. Retrieved from https://www.diarioextra.com/noticia/costa-rica-bilingue-2040-un-sueno-que-se-desvanece/

Costa Rica and the Bilingual Dream: A Post Mortem Reality Check

The dream of a bilingual Costa Rica by 2040, once a bold promise under Carlos Alvarado’s administration, now feels like a distant hope rather than an approaching reality. The frustration expressed in the recent editorial is not only understandable but warranted. For decades, political leaders, including José María Figueres Olsen, have set optimistic timelines, such as 2025 or 2040, without fully addressing the structural and systemic changes needed to achieve them.

What Went Wrong?

1	Overpromising, Underplanning:	Carlos Alvarado’s bilingualism plan was ambitious in vision but shallow in infrastructure. Announced with enthusiasm, it lacked a realistic blueprint grounded in the actual conditions of public education. It ignored chronic issues such as the limited English proficiency of many teachers, outdated methodologies, a lack of technological resources, and above all, a system that fails to serve students equitably across regions.
	While the idea of Costa Rica becoming a hub for bilingual professionals in tourism and high-tech industries was attractive, it was built on shaky foundations.
2	Pre-existing Weaknesses in the Education System:	The shortcomings of the bilingualism initiative didn’t begin with Alvarado. Successive governments have used education as a political tool, setting targets that look good in speeches but fail to translate into classroom change. There has been little continuity across administrations, no long-term investment in language policy, and limited coordination between universities, the Ministry of Public Education (MEP), and the private sector.
	The root of the problem is not a lack of desire to teach English; it is a lack of coherent national planning, consistent funding, and a shared vision for how English should be taught, to whom, and with what resources.
3	A Deep Divide: Public vs. Private:	Bilingualism in Costa Rica has always been accessible to a small segment of the population, those attending private or experimental bilingual schools. Meanwhile, the majority of students in public schools receive just 3 to 5 40-minute MEP teaching hours of English per week, often delivered by undertrained or under-supported teachers. Compare that to the 14+ hours in well-funded bilingual schools, and the inequity becomes clear.
	This is not a path to national bilingualism; it is a recipe for linguistic inequality that mirrors existing socioeconomic divisions.
4	The Pandemic and Educational Setbacks:	The COVID-19 pandemic, coupled with previous teacher strikes, accelerated the collapse of the bilingual dream. Learning loss was not exclusive to English; however, language acquisition, especially in early and continuous exposure, was hit particularly hard. The data is grim: a two-year delay in academic progress and a spike in school dropout rates among teenagers.
	Without basic literacy and educational continuity, foreign language development becomes nearly impossible.
5	Inconsistent Teacher Preparation:	The editorial at Diario Extra rightly points out that between 75% and 80% of English teachers are graduates of private universities, many of which vary greatly in quality and standards. Without national mechanisms for evaluating teacher proficiency and instructional effectiveness, students receive uneven and often inadequate English instruction across the country.

Timeline of Costa Rica’s Bilingualism Policy Failure

Timeline of Costa Rica’s Bilingualism Policy Failure by Jonathan Acuña

Where Do We Go From Here?

It is painful, but necessary, to accept that Costa Rica will not be a bilingual nation by 2040. Still, this acknowledgment should not be seen as defeatist; it should be seen as a call for reform.

If the goal is to build a truly bilingual population, the following steps are essential:

Significantly increase the number of English contact hours in public schools.
Redesign teacher training and certification, ensuring language proficiency and pedagogical competence.
Invest in digital platforms and exposure opportunities, especially in rural areas.
Create sustained, cross-administration policies that transcend political cycles.
Foster collaboration between public universities and the MEP to build research-based, context-specific language education strategies.

Costa Rica has the potential to become a leader in language education, but only if it stops chasing politically expedient timelines and instead builds a sustainable, inclusive, and evidence-based approach. The dream of a bilingual Costa Rica doesn't need to die, but it must evolve. Let us abandon illusions of quick fixes and instead commit to long-term, equitable transformation.

Historical Efforts and Limitations Across Administrations by Jonathan Acuña